


The Possibility of Love and Herbivores

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: Young Americans [6]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-27
Updated: 2014-12-27
Packaged: 2018-03-03 19:50:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2885384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Imagine if someone made a movie that combined Noah’s Ark and Jurassic Park.  A bunch of animals, a few humans, and an ark full of bloodthirsty carnivores.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Possibility of Love and Herbivores

**Author's Note:**

> All of the major characters in this story are 8th graders. It’s been a while since I’ve written in this universe but young Jason and Dave began to speak in my head so I wrote it down. I had a feeling it would be an interesting conversation.

“That’s like six lawns, are you insane?”

“It’s cool.”

“It’s not that cool.” Jason shook his head. “I thought you were saving for a new bike.”

“Some things are more important than that.” Dave reasoned. “There will always be bikes, Jason.”

“I hate to break it to you but there will always be girls too.”

“You don’t understand.” 

“I don’t understand.” Jason pointed to himself. “OK, seriously, tell me what I don’t understand. Have I never liked a girl? Am I out of my league or something?”

“It’s not even like that. You're putting words in my mouth.”

“All I'm saying is that $50 is a lot of money. It’s a ridiculous amount of money for a sweater. And I don’t think you should be buying any girl’s, any body’s, affection. What if she doesn’t want it, then what? Powder pink isn’t your color, Rossi.”

Dave sighed. He reached into his pocket and touched his money. It was five $10 bills, 5 West Philly lawns in the heat of spring and summer. Dave rarely saved money…he liked buying things. He bought comic books, junk food, baseball cards, records at a used record store, and action figures. Not too many people knew about the action figures; he didn’t want anyone thinking he still played with toys. Jason knew but that was OK because Jason knew almost everything.

“I want her to like me.” He barely said it aloud.

“I think she already does. And if she doesn’t then I don’t think some sweater will work in your favorite. You don’t want someone liking just because you buy them stuff anyway.”

“I like buying her stuff, you know? I see things and I want to buy them and I want her to smile at me. Are we really going to have to deal with things like this for the next 50 years? I'm not liking the thought one bit.”

“The average white male in Pennsylvania lives to be 76,” Jason replied. “So actually it’s over 60 years.”

“You're not helping.”

“Oh, my bad.”

“So what should I do?” Dave asked.

“Don’t buy the sweater.”

“I got that part. Do you have anything else for me?”

“What kind of affordable stuff does Erin like?” Jason asked. “There's a store in the mall called Claire’s. I always see girls in there.”

“My sister buys earrings there.” Dave said.

“See? Maybe we can check it out on Saturday. You can buy her something before you hang out on Sunday.”

“I could probably find something fun there. OK, we’ll go to Claire’s. Thanks.”

“For what?” Jason asked.

“I don't know…not letting me make an ass of myself. How I feel about Erin is like the best feeling in the world and the worse one all wrapped in one. I think this is payback for how much I hounded my brother when he was bonkers over that girl down the shore last summer.”

“Love is a funny thing.”

“Whoa, slow down.” Dave held up a hand. “No one said anything about love. That’s a really serious word.”

“So it’s not love?” Jason asked.

Dave shrugged. He knew that he liked Erin a lot. She made him smile. She was smart, really pretty, and she made fun of him. A lot of kids in their class thought she was too serious, sometimes people picked on her, but Erin just ignored them. 

She was sure of herself, at least Dave felt like she was. Thirteen wasn’t an easy age for anyone. So many of their peers were going through a variety of ups and downs. While Dave Rossi had his share, when he was with Erin none of that mattered. He wanted to be her best friend, in a girl and boy kind of way and not like he was with Jason.

“What's your mom making for dinner?” Dave asked.

“I thought you didn’t like my mom’s cooking.”

“I never said that. It’s more of a thing where I prefer my mom’s to anyone else. What I'm not in the mood for tonight is four brothers and two sisters at the dinner table.”

“We’re having barbecued chicken.” Jason replied. “I think mom is making potato broccoli casserole too. That’s my dad’s favorite.”

“Do I want to know what's in it?”

“Its homemade mashed potatoes with cheese and chopped broccoli. Then my mom puts in the oven and lets it bake. It’s amazing.”

“It could be worse.” Dave mumbled. “You think your mom would be cool with me joining you or is there some sooper seekrit Gideon family stuff that I'm not supposed to know about.”

“We wait until the Sabbath to discuss any and all sooper seekrit Gideon family stuff. You're a couple of days early.”

“Why is the Jewish Sabbath on Saturday and the real one on Sunday?” Dave asked.

They both hopped off the brick wall they were sitting in and started walking toward home. The little park had a playground for kids and benches for weary parents. A few feet away there was three basketball courts. In the far corner of the park was a baseball mound. It wasn’t big enough for much a game but the boys went there to pitch and hit. 

Sometimes in the summer the community center would set up batting cages. Dave rarely missed a chance to get some real batting in. He didn’t tell many people, it was probably just a dumb kid fantasy, but he thought he would make a pretty good professional batter. A lot of youth coaches said he had the shoulders and speed for it. Dave had some lazy tendencies though and didn’t think he could practice one thing day in and day out. 

He liked to experiment with lots of different things. Maybe that why Gideon played the piano so well and he sucked. Maybe that’s why Erin was so good with her fencing thing. If it wasn’t going to be baseball, it needed to be something. 

Dave was reaching an age where his parents were seriously asking what he wanted to be when he grew up. Junior high was almost over. Once he got into high school they'd be pushing him to pick a focus in life. It seemed ridiculous but that didn’t make it any less true. He needed to enjoy the twilight of his carefree tween years, or whatever they were called these days.

“There’s only one real Sabbath, Dave.” Jason replied. He was throwing his baseball in the air and catching it with his glove. It was a nice walk from the park on 45th and Locust back to their houses on 41st and Pine. Most of the huge Victorians had been converted into apartments of various size. 

Luciano Rossi still owned his, all three floors, in the original condition it was bought in by his own father. To Jason the Rossi house was a mansion. To Dave it was an easy place to go unnoticed in. “Sunday is the first day of the week, not the last.”

“So.”

“According to the book of Genesis, God made the world in six days. On the seventh he rested. So on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday he was letting there be light and making dinosaurs and stuff. On Saturday, he took a rest from his own creation to enjoy the fruits of his labor. I always figured by resting that he was taking a nap.”

“Whoa, there are dinosaurs in the Bible?” Dave asked. “We didn’t learn about that in Catholic school. I might’ve been interested in Moses vs. the Mastodon.”

“I don’t think mastodons are dinosaurs, Dave. I haven’t read the book cover to cover, but mastodons and dinosaurs probably aren't really in there.”

“Well that sucks. If God created everything then he created the T-Rex, right? Jason, Jason,” he hit his best friend’s arm. “Imagine if someone made a movie that combined Noah’s Ark with _Jurassic Park_. It would have a bunch of boring animals, a few humans trying to escape an apocalyptic flood, and an ark full of bloodthirsty carnivores. Charlton Heston would totally be the star of it if he wasn’t dead.”

“That would be so awesome.” Jason smiled. “Heston would be all old school with an eye patch. He’d have pitchforks and trip wire but then Samuel L. Jackson would show up in a leather trench coat with laser beam sniper rifles.”

“Yes! Samuel L. Jackson is so badass. Can Pam Grier be in it too; and the other dude from _Firefly_?”

“Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal.” Jason said, holding his fist in the air and shaking it. “Yeah, that guy definitely needs to be in it. Pam Grier too since she knows how to handle a gun. Katie Holmes can play a dinosaur expert who got on the Ark to make sure things didn’t get out of control, which of course they will.”

“This movie will be so beyond epic.” Dave nodded and grinned. “It hasn’t even happened yet and it’s already a classic. I think Katie Holmes should wear a dirty crop top and Pam Grier definitely has to have Kevlar. Kevlar is awesome. Ooh, and those knee high leather boots like she wears in _Sheba Baby_. Those were hot.”

“What about the herbivores though?”

“They're boring,” Dave said. “We don’t need them. All we need is a T-Rex, some velociraptors, maybe a pterodactyl or something cool like that, and then one of the chilled out dinosaurs like a stegosaurus or something. Is stegosaurus a carnivore?”

“Nope, he's an herbivore. Lots of cool dinosaurs are; I think there should be at least two in the movie. Now I'm wondering if there are any omnivore dinosaurs. I can look it up before bed tonight. My dad got me an awesome dinosaur computer program and game.”

“What does an omnivore eat?” Dave asked. “What's left after meet or plants?”

“Everything. Most human beings would fall under omnivores, unless they were vegans or something.”

“I think I would die if my mom stopped making meat. It’s sometimes the highlight of my day.”

“I'm with you on that one.” Jason held up his mitt and Dave slapped his hand against it.

“You know Gideon,” Dave put his arm around Jason’s shoulder. He moved it around his neck in a light headlock. “I don’t think I tell you enough that you're the best friend ever.”

“Every day its implied.” Jason reached up and smacked the top of Dave’s head with his baseball mitt. “I think we just sounded married?”

“Don’t say it like that…I think I’d be a great husband.”

“If you're the husband than what am I?’ Jason asked. “Can we both be husbands?”

“Hell yeah.” Dave nodded. “I think so. I would be the cooler one but we can both be husbands.”

“You have no idea.” Jason laughed as he pushed him away.

“I really don’t.” Dave was laughing too. “So we’ll go to the mall on Saturday and get a gift?”

Dave was excited to get something for Erin. He was looking forward to spending some alone time with her on Sunday afternoon. They wouldn’t be completely alone, surely one of her parents would be there. But Dave was practically speechless when she invited him over for lunch and stuff. That was how she described it. 

He didn’t want his head to explode thinking about what ‘and stuff’ meant. It wasn’t going to be Friday after Dark on Cinemax or anything. They were only 13 so whatever Dave fantasized about while lying in bed at night, he could forget it. He was pretty sure it was still going to be awesome though.

“Ursula said that Mrs. Strauss only makes healthy food.” Jason said.

“Don’t tell me that.” Dave shook his head. “I guess I’ll have to squirrel away some ribs or a roast beef sandwich in my backpack. It’s worth it to spend some time with Erin. I’d eat a whole salad to spend time with her, Jason.”

“And you think it’s not love. OK.” Jason gave his best friend the OK sign as they walked up the steps to his front door. “Good luck with that.”

***


End file.
